The Sydney Gay Parade was held for the first time in 1978 starting as a protest march. From the beginning it was not held in the usual carnival time but during the recent years it has been held during the carnival season and has become one of the largests Gay festivals in the world.

The Busójárás festival in southern Hungary begins the Friday before Ash Wednesday. Like many other carnival the origin is associated with the arrival of spring, but the story about the costumes which main component is a wooden mask and a large sheepskin jacket is another.

The legend says that after the Hungarian army had been defeated by the Turks the people of Mohacs attacked the Turks dressed in this costumes. The Turks fled as they thought they were attacked by devils.

The carnival ends on Tuesday when a coffin containing a Busó costume is dragged through the village and burned at the main square symbolizing the "burning" of winter and welcoming the spring.